This is a blog to let you know about the journey Helen Addis travels on while recovering. Please join us so you can receive updates regularly about where she is and what is going on...

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What a great smile!

Friday, August 20, 2010

More assessments

Day two of rehab kept mom busy. Aunt Betty spent the day with mom today to see what some of us missed. Deb had a few appointments and I spent some time at work. Since mom's temporary home is only a few miles from work, I popped in while mom was doing some Occupational Therapy in the late morning and continued my visit thru lunch. From what I saw and from what Aunt Betty reported, mom was handled everything thrown at her! She is becoming a challenge to the staff because she is improving everyday and they're gonna have to keep up with her!

I went back to visit mom after work and arrived at 3:40. She was suppose to be resting but she still doesn't do much of that (some things never change). Anyway, Deb arrived shortly thereafter and the three of us visited with Mom while she ate. Mom gobbled up her tray again as her appetite is as strong as ever. Deb and Aunt Betty left so that left time for mom and me to play some games. We stayed in the dining hall (patients are encouraged to eat in a special dining hall instead of their rooms). We chatted for a bit and while she isn't remembering everything from her day's activities she is doing pretty well. She also is remembering upcoming events such as doctor appts, scheduled visits to friends/families that she had scheduled in advance several weeks ago, birthdays etc. This is a GOOD thing because she is started to worry about those things. You know her...she is worrying about missing something and heaven forbid if that ever happens! Again, this is a good kind of worry, she is on her way back. She may not get all the way there tomorrow or next week but I think she's gonna get there (or pretty darn close).

So, since all of the other patients had left the dining room, I decided to raid the game closet and pulled out RACKO and FLINCH. We quit playing Racko after game 5 because mom beat be 4 out of 5 times! We then played one game of Flinch. While she did a perfect job at Racko, she only did a good job with Flinch. She got on a role of playing her cards from her hand and regularly forgot to play from her Flinch pile (sound familiar to some of you other old timers?). I Flinched her the first time and then realized she may not be quite ready for Flinch yet. She missed playing from her Flinch pile a few more times but I reminded her each time (after she missed playing it) and she immediately thanked me and then played from the Flinch pile. Anyway, with me 'helping' her this way, she also beat me at Flinch so I decided it was time for me to push her back to her room and go home cuz I don't like to lose that many times in one evening! Plus she likes to always likes to watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune and it was almost 7:00.

In summary, mom is doing pretty doggone well for the condition she is in. Thanks for all the cards, visits, snacks, food, gifts, thought & prayers that so many of you have given us.